William Morton's Excavations at Dhiban, Jordan: 1955, 1956, 1965

迪班是约旦最重要的考古遗址之一。迪班因发现梅萨铭文及其与圣经的联系而在19世纪声名鹊起，近100年来一直受到系统的探索。早期的考古项目主要是为了阐明铁器时代的迪班，当时迪班表面上是圣经中摩押王国的首都，在这方面，他们都相当失望。威廉·莫顿是这些早期的考古学家之一，他是圣经语言和历史的教授，从1950年到1953年，他作为美国东方研究学院考古队的一员在迪班工作。莫顿于1955年接管了这一项目，并决定将挖掘工作转移到土丘的顶端，希望发现大量的铁器时代遗迹。莫顿在这方面异乎寻常地成功，他发现了大量可追溯到摩押王国鼎盛时期(约公元前850-700年)的矿藏，其中大部分与他所称的一座非常大的建筑有关，他称之为“梅沙宫殿”。尽管他对圣经感兴趣，但莫顿也挖掘和记录了马穆鲁克时代(约公元1265-1450年)覆盖在铁器时代遗迹上的大片房屋，在这段时期经历了扩张和遗弃的“繁荣和萧条”周期。不幸的是，莫顿在挖掘迪班之后患上了许多疾病，这让他无法发表自己的研究成果。AHRC的这个研究假项目提议完成莫顿对迪班的挖掘的出版，首次将这些非常重要的成果提供给更广泛的世界。将特别注意对莫顿三个主要发掘区域内建筑和占用阶段的相对顺序进行认真的整理，然后使用对不同类型陶器分布的正式分析将这三个区域连接在一起，并创建两个关键时期(铁器时代和马穆鲁克)遗址的整体图景。对于铁器时代和马木鲁克时期，迪班似乎都是一个关键的地点，用来了解约旦历史上重要的大规模问题；第一个是铁器时代国家形成和治理的性质，第二个是帝国范围内的经济危机对一个孤立的集镇的影响。鉴于莫顿的挖掘结果在这两个问题上尚未被复制或取代，至关重要的是最终将这些结果付诸报刊并更广泛地提供。

Dhiban is one of Jordan's most important archaeological sites. Made famous in the 19th century by the discovery of the Mesha Inscription and its connections to the Bible, Dhiban has been subject to systematic exploration for almost 100 years. Early archaeological projects were primarily interested in illuminating Dhiban during the Iron Age, when it was ostensibly capital of the biblical kingdom of Moab, and in this regard they were all rather disappointed. William Morton was one of these early archaeologists, a professor of biblical languages and history, he worked at Dhiban from 1950-1953 as part of the American Schools of Oriental Research excavation team. Morton took over this project in 1955 and decided to shift excavations to the summit of the mound in the hopes of discovering substantial Iron Age remains. Here Morton was unusually successful, uncovering substantial deposits dating to the peak period of the kingdom of Moab (ca. 850-700 B.C.), most of which were related to a very large building he dubbed 'Mesha's Palace'. Despite his biblical interests, Morton also excavated and recorded an extensive area of Mamluk era (ca. 1265-1450 AD) housing that overlay the Iron Age remains, during a period went through a 'boom and bust' cycle of expansion followed by site abandonment. Unfortunately, Morton suffered from a number of illnesses after excavating Dhiban which prevented him from ever publishing his results. This AHRC Research leave project proposes to complete the publication of Morton's excavation of Dhiban, making these very important results available to the wider world for the first time. Particular attention will be given in carfeully sorting out the relative succession of building and occupation phases within each of Morton's three major excavation areas, and then using a formal analysis of the distribution of different types pottery to connect these three areas together and create an overall picture of the site in two key periods (Iron Age and Mamluk). For both the Iron Age and Mamluk periods, Dhiban appears to be a key site for understanding important large-scale issues in the history of Jordan; the nature of Iron Age state-formation and governance in the first instance, and the impact of an empire wide economic crisis on an isolated market town in the second. Given that the results of Morton's excavations have yet to replicated or superseded with regards to either of these issues, it is vital that these results are finally brought to press and made more widely available.